NFL Lockout... 100 Days Plus

Lock-Down!!!

Blog by Haz Bey

I love football, I mean I really love football, but if this lockout doesn't end soon, the type of football we will watch once it is over will be a mere shadow of it's former self. Don't get me wrong, if we do lose games & have a shortened season, it's a million times better than having no games at all, but I, like all other Americans, are used to a certain standard of quality of play associated with the NFL.  If you have ever played competitive organized football of some sort, semi-pro or what have you, then you know that just preparing for a season takes a lot of hard work & is very time consuming.  So just imagine preparing for an NFL season.  The Super Bowl ends first week of February, then next thing you know you are in late April, the draft has just passed & you are right back on the field doing mandatory OTAs.  Not to mention having access to team facilities to keep your body fit or to rehab nagging or serious injuries.  We on the outside just take that stuff for granted.  We just get excited for training camp, because we believe that is the 1st true sign of the upcoming season looming.  Well, sorry folks.  An NFL season is truly 365 days a year.  It's non-stop.  With complex offensive & defensive strategies, asserting incoming rookies & free agents to build chemistry is a job all in itself. 

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Now with the NFL Lockout 100 days & some strong, all we got was to see & hear was that the players taking responsibility by getting together on their own, running plays half-assed in a non-structured environment.  These players need their coaches to help them correct mistakes that the players themselves just would not recognize. 

Lately the talks between both the owners & the players have been heating up, but if they don't get a deal done soon,  then we are going to get some sloppy-played football.  We will get a rushed training camp, preseason & possibly less then 16 regular season games.  Which would also force teams to shrink their playbooks & run more basic sets.  We will still get the big plays & big hits, but the flow of the game would comprimised due to the stubbornness of the two sides struggling to get the deal that they want.  Both sides don't want to give in, but they both know that they will in some way, eventually.  I don't care how much money you make, when you start to miss pay checks, then you realize there's a huge problem & it still hurts your pockets.  So, yes, the Lockout will end, we will have our football, but it is just a matter of when.  And once we know when, we will see if we get the brand of football we are acustomed to or see if we get a watered-down version with low scores & sloppy plays.  Only time will tell.